The garrotte (or garrote) was the standard civilian method of execution in Spain. It was introduced in 1812/13, at the beginning of the reign of Ferdinand VII, to replace the crude form of hanging previously used. At least 736 people, including 16 women, were executed in Spain in the 19th century. It is not clear how complete earlier records are, and even modern ones are somewhat patchy.
Some 96 people, including two women, were garrotted between 1900 and 1935, with a further 110 men and three women put to death in the post-Civil War period. Executions also took place by shooting during this period, and Spain’s last executions were by firing squad. Shooting was more commonly handed down by military tribunals; however, it is unclear why people were shot for civilian murders. Most 20th-century executions were for murder or terrorist-related crimes, although banditry remained a capital crime, certainly into the 1950s.
| Technical Specification | Archival Record |
| Primary Method Name | Garrote (garrotte, garrote vil) |
| Primary Jurisdiction | Spain and Spanish colonial territories (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines) |
| Civilian Introduction | 1812–1832 (formalized by Royal Decree of Ferdinand VII) |
| Key Mechanism Variations | Cord tourniquet (primitivo); iron collar with threaded screw; collar with posterior spinal blade |
| Primary Mechanism of Death | Cervical vertebrae dislocation/spinal trauma or tracheal asphyxiation |
| Final Civilian Use (Spain) | March 2, 1974 (Salvador Puig Antich & Heinz Chez) |
| Constitutional Abolition | 1978 (Article 15, Spanish Constitution) |
Garrotting in the Mid-20th Century
Sixty-five men and two women were executed by garrotte between 1950 and 1974 in various parts of Spain, including one man in Las Palmas on Grand Canaria. All of these suffered either for murder, banditry, or major acts of terrorism. Eleven men were executed by firing squad in the same period.
Origins and Early Use
Garrotting appears to have developed from the early Chinese form of execution known as the bow-string. The criminal was tied to an upright post with two holes bored in it through which the ends of a cord from a long bow were passed and pulled tight around the neck by the executioner until the condemned strangled.
In the original Spanish version, the prisoner was seated on top of a short post with his back to the main post, and a rope loop was placed around his neck and the post. The executioner twisted a stick inserted in the loop to tighten the rope and strangle the prisoner. As in most countries, a more humane method of execution was sought, and various improvements to the garrotte were made.
Later Mechanisms
The next form of garrotte comprised a wooden stool on which the prisoner sat with his back to the post. In some later instances, a strong wooden chair was used. The condemned was strapped at the wrists, arms, waist, and legs, and the hinged iron collar closed around the neck. A screw operated by a handle, or a weighted lever connected to a spike or a small star-shaped blade, ran through the post. When the screw/lever mechanism was operated, the blade entered the criminal’s neck and severed the spinal column in an attempt to ensure that the prisoner did not strangle to death.
In some versions, two brass collars were used. One collar was attached to the lever whilst the other was fixed to the post. Both collars were hinged to admit the prisoner’s neck. When all preparations were complete, the executioner operated the mechanism, forcing one collar outwards whilst the other remained stationary. Thus, if correctly adjusted, it dislocated the prisoner’s neck and caused immediate unconsciousness, followed by death (as in modern hanging).
Eyewitness Account
An execution by garrotting of a robber named Jose de Roxas in Mexico in the early 1800s was witnessed and described by journalist Richard Ford as follows:
The condemned man mounted the platform and was seated on a short post with his back to a strong upright post. The executioner fastened the iron collar around his neck. When all was ready, he took the lever in both hands and, at the pre-arranged signal, turned the lever, drawing the collar tight, while his assistant threw a black cloth over Roxas’s face.
A convulsive pressure of the hands and a heaving of the chest were the only visible signs of the passing of the robber’s spirit. After a pause of a few seconds, the executioner peeped behind the cloth and, after giving another turn to the screw, removed it. The dead man was slightly convulsed, the mouth open, and the eyeballs turned into their sockets.
This description is very similar to those of executions carried out by hanging at the same period. In most cases, the prisoner lost consciousness quite quickly and was dead after a few minutes. Garrotting, even in its later forms, could never guarantee an instant loss of consciousness and was never considered to be as quick or humane as hanging.
Executions of Women
The first woman to be garrotted was Juana Rivero in Madrid on the 3rd of November 1824 for robbery. Twenty-seven-year-old Mariana Pineda became the first woman to suffer for treason when she was executed on the 26th of May 1831 in Andalusia. Mariana had embroidered a flag with the words, “Equality, Liberty, Law.” The flag was burned in front of her while she was being executed. It was reported that the spike of the garrotte pierced her neck and protruded through her mouth. Afterwards, as customary, her body was taken away, stripped naked (the clothes went to charity), wrapped in a bedsheet, and placed in a cheap pine coffin for burial.
Twenty-eight-year-old Higinia Balaguer, a Spanish maid, became the last woman to suffer public garrotting when she was executed on July the 19th, 1890, at 4:00 a.m., for her part in a robbery murder. Her execution took place before several thousand spectators at the “Field of the Guards” in Madrid. The actual garrotte was mounted on the platform of a scaffold about five feet high, reached by seven steps. Public execution ended in Spain with the garrotting of Lluis Más and three others on the 4th of May 1897 in Barcelona. Silvestre Lluis became the first to suffer in private when he was garrotted in Barcelona for a murder on the 15th of June 1897.
The last female garrotting took place on the 19th of May 1959. Pilar Prades Expósito Santamaria, 28 years old, was executed in Valencia for the murder by poisoning of her employer, Doña Adela Pascual Camps, on the 18th of May 1955. She was put to death by Snr. A. López Guerra. All three female post-Civil War executions were for poisoning, the other two being 23-year-old María Domínguez Martínez, who had also poisoned her employer and was executed on the 23rd of May 1949 in Huelva, and Teresa Gómez Rubio, who suffered on the 16th of February 1954 in Valencia for three murders committed in 1940/41.
The Last Garrottings
Garrotting was last used on the 2nd of March 1974, when two men were executed on the same day. Salvador Puig Antich was put to death in Barcelona by A. López Guerra for the shooting of a police officer during a robbery the previous year, and Heinz Chez suffered in Tarragona at the hands of J. Monero Renomo for the terrorist murder of a Civil Guard Lieutenant. The garrotte used for Antich’s execution is now on display in the Fundación Camilo José Cela in Iria Flavia.
I am told that the last Spanish executions (in 1975) could not use this method because of a bureaucratic problem. At this time in Spain, there was only one executioner, and the condemned were in three different cities: Madrid, Barcelona, and Burgos. Thus, they were carried out by firing squad on the 27th of September 1975, when five men were shot for terrorist-related murders (two female accomplices were reprieved).
Three of the men were shot in Madrid: 24-year-old José Humberto Francisco Baena Alonso, 27-year-old Ramón García Sanz, and 21-year-old José Luis Sánchez-Bravo Sollas, all of whom had murdered policemen in 1975. Twenty-one-year-old Juan Paredes Manotas was shot in Barcelona for a similar crime, while 33-year-old Angel Otaegui Echevarría was executed in Burgos. Capital punishment was effectively abolished in 1978.
Physiological Impact and Lethality
Unlike standard-drop hanging—which relies on kinetic deceleration to fracture the cervical spine—the mechanical garrote functioned through localized static compression and direct leverage. Depending on the era and exact apparatus design, the lethal physiological effects occurred via three distinct mechanisms:
- Spinal Cord Disruption: In models fitted with a posterior screw spike or blade, the forward-advancing metal wedge entered between the upper cervical vertebrae (frequently at the $C1$–$C2$ junction), transecting or severely compressing the brainstem and spinal cord for rapid incapacitation.
- Cerebral Hypoxia: Sudden circumferential constriction of the iron collar compressed the bilateral carotid arteries and jugular veins, terminating blood flow to the brain and inducing unconsciousness within seconds when properly applied.
- Mechanical Asphyxia: If the collar was improperly sized, misaligned, or lacked an internal wedge, the device acted purely as an anterior throat clamp, crushing the thyroid cartilage and larynx. In these botched instances, death resulted from gradual asphyxiation rather than spinal shock.
Use Beyond Spain
The garrotte was used in Spanish colonies, e.g., Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. It was also the official method for ordinary criminals in Portugal up to abolition in 1867.
Acknowledgments
With special thanks to my friend Christian Schrepper for allowing me to publish the results of his research into Spanish executions.
Also, see Executions in Spain From 1812 to 1975.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What was the difference between the ‘garrote ordinario’ and the ‘garrote vil’?Historically, Spanish law distinguished execution status based on social class. The garrote noble was reserved for nobility (arriving on horseback), the garrote ordinario for ordinary citizens (arriving on a mule), and the garrote vil (“vile” or ignominious garrote) for common felons or social outcasts. The Royal Decree of 1832 standardized the iron-collar method across all civilian death sentences, eliminating the class-specific titles in practice.
- When was the garrote completely abolished in Spain?Civilian usage ended in March 1974 with the executions of Salvador Puig Antich and Heinz Chez. Capital punishment was formally prohibited under Article 15 of the 1978 democratic Constitution, with complete removal from the Military Penal Code finalized in 1995.
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